Maybe my biggest issue with the film is that it plays safe, in sharp contrast to its sport and gender-empowering subjects: when was the last time wrestling was considered a safe career, both literally and figuratively?

It is to the film's credit that though Geeta and Babita's wins are documented, it still manages to engage the viewer with the wrestling tournaments and bring patriotic emotions to the fore. Most importantly, Dangal scores with its first-rate performances.

The sequences are wonderfully shot and choreographed, so much so that it is difficult to believe the actors aren't full-time wrestlers. And at the centre of it all is Aamir Khan. He plays Mahavir with practiced authority and impeccable timing.

Within that tight-lipped mask, [Khan] finds a hundred ways to communicate emotion. That's more than you can say for Dangal, a one-trick domestic sports drama that drags on for two hours and 40 minutes.